Mystery solved, star-studded Roos the real deal
THE North Melbourne-Tasmanian Kangaroos have emphatically shut down any doubts they would need time to gel by making a huge statement in their AFLW debut.
Despite one of the strongest lists in the competition, there were questions around how long the Roos would need to get their star-studded squad on the same page.
However, a 7.10 (52) to 2.4 (16) belting of Carlton at a sun drenched North Hobart Oval proved exactly why the competition newcomers are seen as serious premiership contender.
The Roos used a second quarter onslaught to set up the commanding victory, kicking 3.4 while keeping the Blues scoreless as they exerted dominance all across the ground.
Cairns’s Elisha King missed selection in the first game.
Former Collingwood tall Emma King went into the record books as the club’s first goal kicker when she converted a free kick from 20m out on a 45 degree angle in the first quarter, before Jess Edwards, who had done a terrific blanketing job on last year’s league best and fairest Emma Kearney, responded for the Blues approaching time on.
From there it was one-way traffic, with North controlling the tempo before ramming home scoreboard pressure.
Impressive midfielder Ashleigh Riddell and former basketballer Alison Drennan kicked back-to-back goals within 90 seconds midway through the term, before high profile recruit Moana Hope, who was held stat-less in the first stanza, marked and goaled approaching the long break.
Hope tapped her jersey and celebrated in style with her first major as a Roo.
King hauled in a big mark in the goal square early in the third quarter to boot her second and extend the lead, with Carlton finally snapping the sequence via captain Brianna Davey when she was awarded a 50m penalty.
Tasmanian Brittany Gibson put the icing on the cake seven minutes into the last quarter when she burst through the middle of the ground, kicked from just inside the 50m and watched the ball bounce through to become the first local player to register a major in her home state.